Passport to Texas

Wildlife: Freshwater Mussels Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Freshwater mussels—soft bodied organisms that live inside hard shells—are vital to Texas’ aquatic ecosystems.

03—They’re the foundation of the aquatic ecosystem.

Marsha May is Texas Mussel Watch coordinator, which is part of the Texas Nature Trackers program at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

14—I like to call them the vacuum cleaners of the system. Their main diet is bacteria and other small partials. They’re the filtration systems of the rivers lakes and ponds. So they have a very important role in cleaning that water.

Marsha says mussels are an indicator species—the aquatic equivalent of a canary in a coalmine.

09—They’re definitely a canary in a coalmine. You start losing these freshwater mussels, then you know something definitely detrimental is going on with that system.

We have lost some mussel species. Historically Texas has had more than fifty species of freshwater mussels, but today we’re down to 47.

22—We currently only have one species that’s federally listed as endangered, and that’s the Ouachita rock pocketbook. We’ve never found it alive in Texas; we’ve only found recently dead shells. So it goes on and off the Texas list. We have 11 species that US Fish and Wildlife is looking at possibly listing.

More on mussels tomorrow.

That’s our show with support from the SFWR program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife: The Nine-banded Armadillo Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The nine-banded armadillo is a Texas icon that has captured the imagination and hearts of Texans and non-Texans a like. Sadly, though, the only time some of us have seen an armadillo is in a flattened state on Texas highways.

About the size of a terrier dog…and covered with bony plates the color of pavement…it’s easy to understand why motorists might not see the armadillo as it attempts to cross roadways on summer evenings in search of food.

Speaking of the preferred cuisine of armadillos… they enjoy a diet of worms, beetles, larvae and caterpillars, among other “delicacies.”

Armadillos generally live where the soil is easily dug – because they probe for food beneath its surface. You’ll find the largest populations of armadillos where the soil texture is sandy.

Although the armadillo can swim, it tires easily when forced to go a long distance. Yet, if the stream is narrow enough, you might just see this unusual little creature enter the water on one bank, walk underwater along the bottom, and come out on the other side. Interesting, huh?

They’re also able to ingest air, which makes them more buoyant for the times when they do swim. I bet you never think of armadillos in quite the same way again.

Well, that’s our show…thank you for joining us.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Whoopers Could Break Record Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The last naturally breeding wild flock of endangered whooping cranes winters along the Texas Coast at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, near Rockport.

04—they spend from about mid-November to about mid-April here in Texas.

Lee Ann Linam is a biologist with the Wildlife Diversity Program at Parks and Wildlife. We spoke in mid November when the birds were just beginning to show up along the coast following their long migration from their breeding grounds in Canada.

10—We have about 25 or 26 whoopers that have been sighted on the Texas coast. We normally, though, don’t get our final count until late December or perhaps early January.

The flock was nearly extinct in the late 1930s 1940s with fewer than 20 members, but its population has grown slowly thanks to well-coordinated efforts to protect habitat and the birds.

20—We had a peak of 283 in Texas last winter, which was a new record. We had approximately37 to 40 chicks that were fledged and were ready to fly I n late august in Canada, according to aerial surveys. So, if we get good enough survival, then we might hit that magic 300 mark.

The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge has a website that updates whooper arrivals, but…

04—The very best experience is to go down and see whooping cranes for yourself.

That’s our show for today. The sport fish and Wildlife restoration program supports our series and fund conservation programs in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Whoopers Continue to Rebound Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As many as 1,400 whooping cranes migrated across North America to the Texas coast in the mid-1800s. By the mid 1940s, the population that wintered here was down to just 18 birds.

08—In the early days, it was primarily unregulated shooting that was causing loss of whooping cranes. And that was something that was fairly easy to control.

Lee Ann Linam is a biologist with the Wildlife Diversity Program at Parks and Wildlife. Because of well-coordinated efforts to protect habitat on the part of both agencies and private landowners, the birds have rebounded, but challenges remain.

11—But now the issues are pretty complex. Things like drought and climate change contributing to things like reduced freshwater inflows. Even the red tide occurrences are threatening the coast this year.

Healthy estuaries are critical to the survival of this magnificent species.

17—In the long-term, we as Texans have the challenge of figuring out how to keep those entire ecosystems healthy with sufficient freshwater inflows; balancing water needs and water uses, because everyone really is affected. So things like water use planning that are going on too, is an important part of the picture.

How many whooping cranes might we see in Texas this winter? Find out on tomorrow’s show.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Prairie Dog Monitoring Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

08—(AMB: prairie dogs calling”)

The black-tailed prairie dog population has declined dramatically throughout its range in Texas.

09—They originally covered a large portion of the state. And we currently have somewhere around one percent of the population that was originally here in the state.

Marsha may coordinates Texas Nature Tracker programs for Texas Parks and Wildlife. You can help wildlife biologists understand this population decline by participating in the Texas black-tailed prairie dog watch. There are three ways to get involved.

19—Volunteers can get involved just monitoring a population of prairie dogs on public property. Then we have adopt-a-prairie dog colony, where folks can go out and monitor a colony wherever they find a permanent colony they’d like to research. And then the third was is the most intense, and that’s a density study.

You’ll need a monitoring packet, and can get yours online from the TPW web site, or have one mailed to you. It’s important to preserve all native species, even this chubby ground-dwelling rodent; because if prairie dogs were gone…

09—We would lose habitat for burrowing owls and food for many hawks. We would lose, also, the prairie habitat that they maintain.

That’s our show for to day… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.